Who knew? Teens willing to stay out of the local food court

For example, the survey assures us that teens would be willing to not eat out, to stop loitering at the fast food court at the mall, and to even postpone buying the latest video game from the nerds at their video store.

Who are the supposed teens who answered this survey? If there is one teen who is not eating out, that teen is the first.

Going out to eat is an inalienable right that all teens claim. If teens weren't eating out, who would be going to the Olive Garden on prom night? Just somebody's grandparents who were too late for the Denny's early bird special.

Nearly a quarter of Denver teens say they don't budget, which is a bit misleading, because if you drive by City Park, you can see them doing all sorts of hand-to-hand transactions that involve budgeting.

The survey also says that teens want more financial literacy, and they will get their chance in the 2011 school year when a new law takes effect requiring that Personal Financial Literacy (PFL) be taught to all students from K-12. Well, that should solve all the woes along the DPS corridor: Little Johnny is going to go to Doris the lunch lady and state that with this 47 cents in his sagging back pocket, he can afford exactly two scoops of powdered mashed potatoes. With gravy.

"By arming younger generations with financial skills," says Nicole Alley, senior communication consultant for the Allstate Foundation, "we may be able to help avoid some of the difficult lessons people learned in the recent recession".

Financial skills aren't the only thing that's arming the younger generation, but let's hope this upcoming course study helps out, even a little bit.

I would rather have someone ask me if I want fries with that than ask me for my wallet.